from Hacker News

Facebook will make the money now

by samsgro on 6/18/19, 4:31 PM with 77 comments

  • by smsm42 on 6/18/19, 6:40 PM

    There's a bunch of problems in current banking system, and unfriendly user interfaces, obscure rules with many gotchas and transaction times are some of them. However, to think that I will trust Facebook more with my money than I trust my bank is, on the current stage, I think plain insane.

    Also, does using Facebook currency for paying your bills means if you get in trouble with Facebook (which anybody now could by posting a wrong joke, having wrong political ideas or upsetting wrong people) you can not pay them anymore? Would Facebook control the transaction processing (i.e. via Messenger or otherwise)? If yes, then definitely not with a ten foot pole.

  • by momentmaker on 6/18/19, 6:04 PM

    Libra is right next to Gemini in astrology and guess who knows Gemini.com?

  • by TACIXAT on 6/18/19, 7:07 PM

    Alright, this is just a prepaid access system built on top of crypto. I strongly believe the need for a prepaid access system to lower transaction fees for moving money digitally, but the companies backing this are some of the most vile. This consortium are never going to do anything in the users' interest. If they're making bank on interest from deposits, that's never going to flow back.

    As well, all these companies (sellers of prepaid access) are going to need to be registered as Money Service Businesses (MSB) in the US. That puts them under all the AML/KYC laws. So we don't even get our libertarian wet dream of money without the red tape. We'll see what their privacy protections look like.

    I want this technology to exist. I would rather pay 5 cents per news article I read than being prompted for a 10 dollar per month subscription. However, I want this to fail miserably due an extreme lack of faith in the companies behind it. All these companies will fight for regulation that cements their position and prevents others from entering the market.

  • by stillbourne on 6/18/19, 6:16 PM

    Hey, anyone remember the last time companies printed their own money? Man, the return of company scrip. I don't see at all how this can turn out bad.

  • by lostmymind66 on 6/18/19, 4:56 PM

    All of these cryptocurrency experiments eventually point out the reason centralized banks were invented in the first place. Usually through major thefts and loss of assets.

  • by velcrovan on 6/18/19, 5:52 PM

    “Libra”? Should have named it Cancer

  • by GrumpyNl on 6/18/19, 5:53 PM

    I bet you have to buy them with good old dollars.

  • by elwell on 6/18/19, 6:46 PM

        (is-coincidence? (= (alpha->num-sum "Libra")
                        42
                        answers/life
                        answers/universe
                        answers/everything))